When was the last time you laughed so hard that you cried? Kleenex wants to know and also wants you to post your associated pictures or videos. (There’s nothing like consumer-generated content for one’s site. Just ask YouTube.) Not only is this Kleenex site interactive, but it is also participatory. (Yes, there is a difference.)

One of the things The Distillery especially likes is the way Kleenex absconded with the YouTube model and streams its own videos instead of placing them on YouTube. A number of other firms should follow that lead. The difference is like having a Hotmail e-mail address vs. an e-mail address with your own domain name. The latter is simply more professional and business-like.

The Distillery likes the Kleenex site. Not only will you find the above, but with a few additional clicks one runs into multimedia content for Kleenex’s new oval-shaped tissues. Questions: Might they be a product variation that consumers didn’t even know they wanted? Might they be a true nasal-technology breakthrough? Or, might Kleenex simply be making noise and blowing its nose by offering consumers a “new and improved” Kleenex? (Oops, make that Kleenexbrand tissue. The Distillery wouldn’t want to dilute the Kleenex brand name.)

How about a cloud in a box? Normally, The Distillery would immediately pan any manufacturer using rehashed news footage as online multimedia content. However, in the case of AquaMagic the approach works reasonably well. That is because the news footage, from disaster-struck regions here in the United States (e.g., Florida, Mississippi), works to both demonstrate the product and also adds a strong element of legitimacy. After all, there is nothing like a successful field test to tout (and sell) an excellent product.

AquaMagic’s water generators seem almost amazing. The firm’s tag line: Create water out of thin air. And, that’s exactly what the product does. It provides a source of fresh drinking water in areas where fresh water is not available or is no longer available. Such water generators are the perfect product for disaster-prone towns, cities, and governments looking to save lives, provide sanitary conditions, and protect their populaces after a disaster. How many will take advantage of this superb and novel life-saver? Unfortunately, the next disaster–natural or otherwise–may give us the answer.

But again, a toilet bowl game? A tissue clog clinic? Yes, once you see it all, you also may find yourself wondering what focus group sat in on that marketing research. However, they did find a way to make consumers think about toilet paper other than when they find themselves looking for a charming and comfortable seat.

I do not know where to start with this one. Maybe with Brazilian bikini waxes? Yea, that’s the ticket. (Be forewarned. What you are about to see and not hear will crack you up.)

Women have long had to contend with sensitive personal hygiene issues in advertising. And while they were doing so, men seemed to have few such worries and sometimes even snickered. That has changed. Men, too, now have certain “unmentionable” problems — namely body hair especially in certain “less visible” places, at least according to Philips.

And how does a firm tackle such a sensitive and hirsute problem? I’ll let Philips show you with the online promotion for its Bodygroom electric razor at its accompanying mini-site, ShaveEverywhere.com.

Honestly, there is nothing I can say that equals this online promotion. You simply have to experience it for yourself. Make certain you watch the music video. Oh, and you’ll also learn about the “optical inch.” And you thought my warning was just a joke. Hah!

Although I know doing laundry is far from one of the most exciting things we all must do (or have someone else do), surely Whirlpool could have found a spokesperson without the entirely deadpan voice-over heard in the online promotion of its [supposedly] innovative Duet Sport Fabric Care System, or in other words — a washer and dryer.

Why waste an excellent opportunity to make a chore few enjoy into at least an attention-grabbing online promotion instead of one that is even more boring than actually doing the laundry? This particular Whirlpool promotion, desperately grabbing at the internet and a offering a mediocre multimedia demonstration, is a wash-out.

This may come as shocking news to some of you, but men can be quite vain. But then again, there is the tale of Narcissus in ancient Greek mythology, and his self-destructive love for his own beauty. Axe has taken count of both today’s men and ancient mythology and turned them into one of the most successful product lines in men’s cosmetics and personal hygiene.

But unlike Old Spice which has had to refurbish its image to appeal to today’s younger generation of men [and women?], Axe is clearly in lock-step with the current marketplace, and both its marketing and products fully embody the attitudes of many of today’s younger males. (So much so that it seems one part of the Axe site, AxeToGrind.net, has been deactivated. I will look more into that and report back with anything interesting.) Keep Old Spice in mind as you wonder through the Axe web site. Regardless of what Old Spice has done, and done well, it obviously lags far behind Axe in its understanding of a highly desired target market with lots of disposable income.

Less you not take time to fully explore Axe’s online marketing and see all that is there (and there is a lot), remember this warning from Axe: Do not spray Axe bodyspray in eyes, over open flames, near female correctional facilities, or sorority events.

How about your father’s (or grandfather’s) brand of aftershave — Old Spice? Out of touch with the times, right? Wrong! Enjoy watching the proof, the director’s cut of When She’s Hot.

You can even try your hand at editing the video to create your own cuts by simply dragging and dropping video and sound clips. Then just address and click to send your creations to friends. (It’s superb AJAX-powered Web 2.0 fun.)